“Sam Kennedy, president of the
Red Sox, labelled the day a ‘spectacular event’ with passion and
intensity that were ‘off the charts.’’’
And, the baseball boss is anxious for a repeat performance
and quickly.
“We need to do it again and
soon,’’ he enthused to the Globe.
The piece led with an overall
positive reaction to the event,
“Hurling, with all its speed, fury,
and even a healthy dollop of donnybrook, returned Sunday to Fenway Park for the first time since
Photo courtesy of Boston Red Sox Facebook.
1954 in an exhibition match between Galway and Dublin.” The donnybrook or fight in the
“All the goalies, five of whom saw action, made stops that rated
second quarter the only blight on an otherwise sporting and
somewhere between impossible and something out of the Pixar
fluid game of 11 on 11 on the shorter pitch.
animation lab. Take the three best goalie saves across the NHL
on any given night, none would compare with those which GalGlobe writer Kevin Paul Dupont, a leading sports writer with
way’s Colm Callanan and James Skehill and Dublin’s Dooley,
the paper, took plenty of positives from the spectacle saying,
Gary Maguire, and Alan Nolan fashioned across the 60 min“Once the baseball-like sliotar was thrown in, the running never
utes.”
stopped. The ball was constantly in play. The clock was halted
only rarely by the referee. And the scoring, with goals varying in
Galway after trailing Dublin for most of the game came back
value of 3, 4, and 5 points, gushed at a rate near equal that of
in the final quarter to take a 50 to 47 point victory. The game
the hot chocolate that streamed from John Henry’s silver urns.”
did flow from start to finish with both sides showing a competitive edge and eagerness for victory.
With only goals allowed in the hybrid version with varying point levels for how far outfield they are scored, the
This modified game is the brainchild of the Gaelic Players
Globe reporter was particularly taken by the goalkeeping,
Association (GPA) with chairman Donal Og Cusack the lead“it would be impossible to overstate the athleticism and skill
ing proponent. The idea is that this modified form of Hurlof the goalkeepers. To guard the soccer-sized nets, fending off
ing would be a vehicle to spread the game internationally. The
shots upward of 100 miles per hour, the keepers are outfitted
smaller sized field and fewer numbers plus the tweaking of the
identical to the rest of the lot, save for their sticks (hurleys),
scoring and rules fit both an international sporting venue size
which have heads (bas) only slightly larger than standard,”
and play format as well as accommodating low club or team
he noted before adding.
playing numbers.
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